10 November 2008

Leisureville reviewed by Villages' Blog

Leisureville: An Inside Look at The Villages

November 6, 2008 by thevillagesfloridabook

"If you’re seriously considering moving to The Villages, I recommend to folks that they read one other book (besides mine) before making the plunge.

Leisureville, by Andrew Blechman, provides a very accurate (and often humorous) account of what life is really like in The Villages. While Mr. Blechman focuses on some of the more…uh, let’s just call them “extreme”… characters you may encounter in The Villages, Leisureville provides a lot of insight that you could really only otherwise gather from living amongst it yourself.

You may see on a lot of forums or blogs about The Villages that there has been some backlash towards Mr. Blechman and Leisureville, especially from Villagers who feel like they need to defend the community and lifestyle they have chosen. While everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, you shouldn’t let this stop you from reading this book.

As long as you read Leisureville with an open mind, you’ll pick up on a lot of things you may have never known about the U.S.’s most talked about retirement community. Some you may like, some things you might not like, but I do guarantee the book will make you laugh.

With the holiday’s coming up, now is the perfect time to catch up on some reading. Be sure to add Leisureville to your list."
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07 November 2008

*** OBAMA win likely to add fuel to IRS investigation of The Villages ***

Not sure how Obama's win will affect the future of age-segregated housing -- it probably won't -- but one thing is more likely: The IRS' investigation of The Villages is likely to be given more breathing room and actually result in an enforceable finding.... The developer, Mr. Morse, is a major contributor to the Republican Party. I suspect a McCain win would have been the deathknell of the IRS investigation. But a Democratic administration is likely to allow the investigation to continue. Still not known: has The Villages broken any laws?

Here are the two posts about the IRS investigation:

http://andrewblechman.blogspot.com/2008/09/villages-under-irs-investigation.html
http://andrewblechman.blogspot.com/2008/09/irs-investigating-villages-financing.html

Nice letter from an older reader

Mr. Blechman: Thank you for writing the book Leisureville. At the age of 74 it has given me a whole new perspective of “retirement utopias”. The one sentence in your book “More often than not, enrichment requires struggle and effort” has given me much thought of values we place upon lives and the contributions we can make to society as we age. Your brought the illustrious individuals in The Villages “to life” when reading your book. Thank you for such an excellent read. Karen S.